Artist Interview | studioSPACEnyc

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We sat down with artist collective studioSPACEnyc to discuss their recent Lightbox Lab show, artists to watch, and more.

LB:How do you define what it means to be an experiential artist?

Any artist, by nature, creates art by having a conversation with the world. Whether that’s a response to a personal experience or global event, making art is about interpreting something out there in an individual way, through the artist’s eyes. ​Experiential artists deepen that conversation with the world. They create work in a setting and for an audience, not just as a response to something out there. Experiential art sets the scene for individual experiences, without dictating those experiences. Experiential art tends to be both immersive and interactive, involving multiple senses in multiple dimensions. In a way, experiential art tells a partial story. But it’s the responsibility of the viewer to fill in the rest of that story.

LB: As a collective, what does your creation process look like?

The “collective” aspect of studioSPACEnyc is more about support than it is about a collaborative creative process. ​Each artist has their own process, and my role, as team manager, is to encourage that creative process and explore each artist’s short term goals and career milestones. As Creative Director, Jake’s there to maintain a high-level aesthetic and offer feedback whenever necessary.

LB:If not an artist, then what you be?

​I’m a writer at heart, and writer was my sole occupation for a few years. So if I hadn’t been involved with studioSPACEnyc, I’d ​be writing more often. Although, we live in a world where it’s possible to do more than one thing at a time. So I still write, edit, and publish when I get a chance. It’s just not my main gig. I think artists have a need to create things and do something physical. So if not art, I think we’d all be doing something else hands-on.

LB: Name 3 artists to watch in your space and why?

Look out for Jacob M Fisher (@jacobmfisher.studio), Katelyn Liepins (@liepinsk), and James Moore (@jamesmooreHQ). ​Jacob is an installation artist with a playful style, transforming environments by modifying light and space and creating immersive experiences. Katelyn is a master of color and shape, who uses tape art to create large-scale, vibrant geometric forms. James is a pioneer of what we’ll call “cyber art”. He combines the worlds of lighting, murals, and sculpture to expose themes of futurism in our emerging digital world.

LB: Why Lightbox?

Besides being one of the coolest boutique event spaces in NYC, we appreciate people who appreciate the work we make. On top of that, everyone we’ve ever met at Lightbox has been amazing, with each person bringing a valuable skillset to the table and enabling us to do what we do best: create unforgettable art experiences.